By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices rose on Monday after an attack on the Saudi Arabian oil production plant over the weekend shocked the global market and this could disrupt the global supply of crude for a while.
As at yesterday night, Brent crude, the global benchmark was trading at $67.84 barrel, gaining $7.20 or 12.65 percent. As for the US oil futures, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude, it was gaining over $6 or 12.58 percent to trade at $61.75 per barrel.
Earlier on Monday, the WTI Crude rose as high as 14.7 percent to $62.90 per barrel. Likewise, the Brent crude went as high as 14.6 percent to $69.02 per barrel with predictions that it could hit $80 in the next few days.
This was the biggest spike in more than a decade as Saudi Aramco oil facilities were badly damaged in the strikes and restoring production to their pre-attack levels could take up to weeks.
On Sunday, President Trump said he authorized the release of oil, if needed, from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help offset cost increases. As oil prices surged, President Donald Trump tweeted they could use the oil “to keep the markets well-supplied”.
President Trump hinted that Iran was behind the recent oil attack in Saudi Arabia, but said he doesn’t want war with Iran.
“I don’t want war with anybody,” the President said, but added that the US was prepared for any war ahead. “We’d certainly like to avoid it,” he said.
Dipo Olowookere